


Neighbourhood Cat

by ColePike



Series: Jonghyun and Key Collection [2]
Category: SHINee
Genre: M/M, Neighbours, Shared Cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 19:43:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13577655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColePike/pseuds/ColePike
Summary: John turned up at Kibum's door so much that he considered the cat his. That is until John needs to go to the vet and Kibum needs to find the owner.Part of the Jonghyun and Key collection.





	Neighbourhood Cat

**Author's Note:**

> Again I hope that by posting this, I can get these off my chest.
> 
> This was going to be a shorter, more light hearted fic that I stared last year and I can't bring myself to finish it write now.
> 
> It was also based off a story from a friend off mine.

John wormed his way into Kibum’s life in much the same way he got attached to his first phone. He got it one day and played games with it occasionally. Then the phone relied on him to recharge him morning and nightly and now the phone barely leaves his side. It was a steady build-up of friendship and then it came all at once. Kibum could finally admit to himself, John the cat was well and truly part of his little family now.

As Kibum walked up the front stairs to the landing John jumped out biting at his laces. Kibum shaked him off with a playful ‘Yah!’

They were, after all, designer shoes.

Kibum wasn’t sure why John started to come over or why he continued to wait at Kibum’s front door for him to get home from work. Kibum wasn’t sure if the cat just came for the free food and warm bed. Kibum wasn’t sure if John was abandoned or belonged to another neighbour. He wasn’t even sure that there wasn’t some desperate family looking for John as he followed the cat inside. The only thing he was sure of and was almost 100% certain, the cats name was not John.

He had asked around a few neighbours, called a few vets and talked to a few pounds but no one new were John came from. He didn’t know too many neighbours as he had recently moved into the area and spent most of his time at work, as a part time model and designer of smart, casual menswear. 

One of them did point out, though, that John was actually of the female variety of cats. But by that stage it was too late for him to change the name, John was well and truly John. And don’t even get Kibum started on gender roles and societal expectations on names because he could rant well into the night. Besides, he had a long day at work. 

He collapsed onto the couch, glass of wine in hand and John purring on his lap. A smile tugged at his lips. John may not have been initially welcome and he continually worried Kibum when he didn’t come home for some odd nights in a row, but he and John were family.

It could not be denied that Kibum loved to shop. So when he just happened to accidentally get a pet that just opened up a whole new realm of products and stores he could shop at. His eyes had lit up with all the possibilities. His wallet got a lot thinner.

John had the best collars, clothes, beds, gadgets, scratching poles, and toys. Now, Kibum donated regularly to the local pounds and vets after his visit in his quest to find John’s home. He found himself sympathising with the animals and the staff there, his heart really going out to them.

Kibum couldn’t wrap his head around the thought that someone could have abandoned John. She was so cute and loving, you know, when she wasn’t waking you up before dawn or clawing at your ankles for a game. 

John was also very keen and had caught on straight away when Kibum was packing for a short holiday. Kibum could see it in her behaviour. Sleeping inside the suitcase, refusing to sleep with him on the bed that night, leaving all the food he had prepared for her untouched and, most amusedly, sulking when he got back. Although she had been waiting by the backdoor when he returned, he got the cold shoulder for a decent couple of days after that.

Kibum also worried what would happen if John ever got sick. She wasn’t his cat, he didn’t know where she went off during the day or where she spent those couple of nights a week away from him. Could he take her to the vet? Or is there some horrible law he would be breaking.

Kibum secretly hoped that John didn’t have a proper owner because he wanted her all to himself.

 

Kibum had a half day on Friday and was thinking about his plans for the rest of the day as he entered the house. If John was around later on, Kibum wanted to try this cat lead he had bought and take John on a walk around the neighbourhood. Maybe he would get some idea or clue from the cat as to where she came from. 

Kibum went to drop his keys on the kitchen counter but instead they crashed to the floor. He dropped them in shock and ran outside throwing open the back door. John was trying to reach behind himself to lick at his back. He was bleeding from, what looked like to Kibum, a scratch.

He huffed a sign of relief as John meowed at him. It wasn’t as bad as he had first thought, but he should really take her to the vet for something like this. He didn’t know much about animals but it could get infected or something right?

But John wasn’t his cat, he sighed. 

‘What am I going to do with you?’ he said out loud, picking John up.

There were a few neighbours he hadn’t asked yet. Kibum decided to ask them first, just in case, before taking John to the vet.

Kibum eyed the scratched tsking to himself, hoping, that if John was in a fight, he was victorious and the other cats looked worse.

Key wrapped John in her favourite blanket, or as well as he could with a squirming cat in his arms.

He set off determinedly to check with the neighbours. The first two knew nothing about John but expressed their sympathies and assured Kibum that it was probably okay to take John to the vet himself. 

Reassured slightly, Kibum knocked on the door of the neighbour to his right, and listened to a man humming lightly as he opened the door.

The man jumped, eyes wide when he saw John and rushed out, frowning with concern.

‘Oh my god! What happened?’

Although Kibum expressed the same concern, he narrowed his eyes slightly, eyeing the man off.

Perhaps this was John’s actual owner and he might have to give up John to the man. He gripped John a little tighter.

The man with the big, round eyes was shorter than Kibum but more built. While Kibum was tall and slender, as a model, this guy had a ripping body and uniquely charming yet quirky face.

Kibum swallowed before answering. ‘I’m not entirely sure but it looks like she was in a fight and was scratched by something. I was just wondering if you knew-’  
‘Awww, you poor thing!’ cooed the shorter man, stroking John’s head lightly.

Then John did the most traitorous thing that any living thing has done to Kibum in his entire life. She purred. He hid a pout as he concluded that they must, at least, know each other.

Kibum continued, ‘Anyway I was wondering if you knew who she belonged to, she’s at my place a lot and I’m worried about her so I wanted to take her to the vet.’

He finally looked up at Kibum, ‘Oh, so she’s been having sleepovers with you? I’ve seen her in your front yard a lot since you moved in actually.’ He smiled down at John when she meowed again.

He stepped closer and inspected her back, tutting. 

‘Poor Cuddles,’ he said.

Kibum wasn’t entirely sure of the face he made, probably some mixture between contempt, a frown and maybe even a bit of unattractive jaw dropping. ‘Wait, her name is ‘Cuddles’?’

The man, for some reason, looked taken aback, ‘Well that’s what I call her. What do you call her?’

Kibum answered confidentially with a resounding, ‘John!’

It was then that Kibum became aware of the face he had just pulled because he was pretty sure the man just imitated his face. 

‘How could you get angry about Cuddles for a name when you’ve called the precious thing John of all names?’ he questioned seriously but with a slight tilt in his lips.

‘Cuddles is generic, unoriginal, too sweet and does not suit her personality at all!’

Before the other man could retort John, or ‘Cuddles’, meowed again. Kibum snorted out a laugh as did the other when he realised the situation they were in. He was fighting an attractive neighbour, he had just met, over the name of an injured cat in his arms.

‘Anyway,’ the neighbour said, ‘I’m not sure of her actual name because she belonged to the people over the back.’ 

He proceeded to explain that those people had owned John/Cuddles for a year or two before buying a dog. That was when all of this started. John/Cuddles did not get on well with the new dog and used to spend most days with the shorter man. Eventually and horribly a year later they moved out with the dog and left poor John/Cuddles behind. Kibum was horrified at the story, subconsciously holding John tighter to himself.

‘How did she live before I got here?’

‘What do you mean? She’s a pretty free spirit. I leave food out for her every morning and give her flea and tick tablets every couple of weeks.’

Kibum eyed John and muttered, ‘No wonder you’re so fat then, you’ve been getting two breakfasts a day, you glutton.’

The other man hummed in agreement. ‘So do you want me to take her? I don’t mind, I had to take her before and they know me there-‘

‘No!’ Kibum interrupted a little too quickly, ‘I’m more than happy too!’

He didn’t want this guy having anymore custody over John then he already did. The cute guy had put in the years and money and responsibility, all Kibum had was love and cat things. He was prepared to hire some solicitors in order to keep John.

**Author's Note:**

> I miss Jonghyun everyday.


End file.
